WASHINGTON, D.C. — Former U.S. Navy Seaman James Driver, 24, of Midland, was convicted today by a federal jury in the Eastern District of Michigan on one count of possession of child pornography, said Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the U.S. Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

According to court documents and testimony presented during the trial, the case originated from a Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) investigation into an individual, later identified as Driver, suspected of possessing and distributing child pornography using a peer-to-peer file sharing network.

Driver, who at the time was a U.S. Navy seaman stationed in Japan, admitted in an interview to being interested in child pornography for the past five years, according to the Justice Department.

Driver faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and lifetime supervised release. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 6, 2012.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May of 2006 by the Department of Justice.

Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

The case is being prosecuted by CEOS Trial Attorneys Thomas Franzinger and Mi Yung Park. The case was investigated by NCIS and CEOS’s High Technology Investigative Unit. Assistance was provided by the FBI’s Innocent Images Unit.